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Prof. Dr. John R. Franke

Prof. Dr. John R. Franke

Professor Religious Studies & Missiology

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Education, degrees
  • 1997: D. Phil., University of Oxford.
  • 1987-1990: Doctoral Studies, Drew University.
  • 1987: M.A., Biblical Theological Seminary.
  • 1984: B.A., Nyack College.
Academic positions and teaching experience
  • 2015-: Visiting Professor of Missional Theology, Yellowstone Theological Institute, Bozeman.
  • 2013-: Professor of Religious Studies & Missiology, ETF, Leuven.
  • 2013-2015: Executive Director and Professor of Missional Theology, Yellowstone Theological Institute, Bozeman.
  • 2011-: General Coordinator, The Gospel and Our Culture Network
  • 2010-2013: Charles and Helen Layfield Theologian in Residence, First Presbyterian Church, Allentown, Pennsylvania
  • 2008-2011: Lester and Kay Clemens Professor of Missional Theology, Biblical Theological Seminary, Hatfield.
  • 2005-2008: Professor of Theology, Biblical Theological Seminary, Hatfield.
  • 2001-2005: Associate Professor of Theology, Biblical Theological Seminary, Hatfield.
  • 1996-2001: Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Biblical Theological Seminary, Hatfield.
  • 1993-1996: Instructor in Historical and Systematic Theology, Biblical Theological Seminary, Hatfield.
  • 1993-1995: Lecturer in Reformation Theology, Oxford.
Membership and Offices in Learned Societies
  • American Academy of Religion
  • Society of Biblical Literature
  • American Society of Missiology
  • Karl Barth Society of North America
  • Postcolonial Theology Network
  • The Gospel and Our Culture Network
Selected Bibliography (since 1995)

Books

  • Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009.
  • Barth for Armchair Theologians. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2006.
  • Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005.
  • The Character of Theology: An Introduction to its Nature, Task, and Purpose. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
  • With Stanley J. Grenz. Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.


Book chapters

  • With  Megan K. DeFranza, “Recovering the Spirit of Pentecost: Canon and Catholicity in Postcolonial Perspective,” in Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations, eds. Kay Higuera Smith, Jayachitra Lalitha, and L. Daniel Hawk (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2014), 166-178.
  • “Good News for All People: Trinity, Plurality, and Mission,” in Revisioning, Renewing, and Rediscovering the Triune Center: Essays in Honor of Stanley J. Grenz, eds. Derek J. Tidball, Brian S. Harris, and Jason S. Sexton (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014), 59-78.
  • “Foreword” to Graham Buxton, An Uncertain Certainty: Snapshots in a Journey from “Either-Or” to “Both-And” in Christian Ministry (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014).
  • “Response to Kevin J. Vanhoozer,” in Thy Word is Truth: Five Views on Inerrancy, eds. James R. A. Merrick and Stephen M. Garrett (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 253-258.
  • “Response to Michael F. Bird,” in Thy Word is Truth: Five Views on Inerrancy, eds. James R. A. Merrick and Stephen M. Garrett (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 192-196.
  • “Response to Peter Enns,” in Thy Word is Truth: Five Views on Inerrancy, eds. James R. A. Merrick and Stephen M. Garrett (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 137-141.
  • “Response to R. Albert Mohler Jr.,” in Thy Word is Truth: Five Views on Inerrancy, eds. James R. A. Merrick and Stephen M. Garrett (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 77-81.
  • “Recasting Inerrancy: The Bible as Witness to Missional Plurality,” in Thy Word is Truth: Five Views on Inerrancy, eds. James R.A. Merrick and Stephen M. Garrett (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 259-287.
  • “Theology and Postmodernity,” in The Routledge Companion to Modern Christian Thought, eds. Chad Meister and James Beilby (London: Routledge, 2013), 751-762.
  • “How Can a God of Love Order Genocide?” in The Way, ed. Mark Oestreicher (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2012), 251.
  • “Church,” in Prophetic Evangelicals: Envisioning a Just and Peaceable Kingdom, eds. Bruce Ellis Benson, Melinda Elizabeth Berry, and Peter Goodwin Heltzel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 139-149.
  • “No Comprehensive Views, No Final Conclusions: Karl Barth, Open-Ended Dogmatics, and the Emerging Church.” in Karl Barth and American Evangelicalism, eds. Bruce L. McCormack and Clifford B. Anderson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011, 300-322.
  • “The Future of Evangelical Theology in an Age of Empire: Postfoundational and Postcolonial,” with Mabiala Kenzo, in Evangelicals and Empire: Christian Alternatives to the Political Status Quo, eds. Bruce Ellis Benson and Peter Goodwin Heltzel. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2008, 267-277.
  • “Theologies of Scripture in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” in Christian Theologies of Scripture: A Comparative Introduction, ed. Justin S. Holcomb. New York: New York University Press, 2006, 157-164.
  • “Christian Faith and Postmodern Theory: Theology and the Nonfoundationalist Turn,” in Christianity and the Postmodern Turn, ed. Myron B. Penner. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2005, 105-121.
  • “Postmodern Evangelical Theology: A Nonfoundationalist Approach to the Christian Faith,” in Alister E. McGrath and Evangelical Theology: A Dynamic Engagement, ed. Sung Wook Chung. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003, 280-309.
  • “Eusebius of Caesarea,” in Historians of the Christian Tradition: Their Methodology and Influence on Western Thought, eds. Michael Bauman and Martin I. Klauber. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1996, 59-78.

Articles in Journals

  • “The Many and the One,” Immerse: A Journal of Faith, Life and Youth Ministry 1/4 (November/December, 2010): 18-22.
  • “Making Space for the Other: A Response to Professors Baylis and Harper.” Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture 6/1 (2010): 43-46.
  • “Still the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Christianity Today 53/12 (December 2009): 27-31.
  • “Theology Reformed and Reforming: The Enduring Significance of John Calvin.” Journal of Presbyterian History 87/2 (Fall/Winter 2009): 70-73.
  • “Faith Seeking Understanding in a Postmodern Context: Stanley Grenz and Nonfoundational Theology.” Princeton Theological Review 12/1 (2006): 17-22.
  • “Postmodern Reformed Dogmatics: Reformed Theology and the Postmodern Turn.” Reformation & Revival Journal 13/1 (2004): 117-132.
  • “Postmodern and Reformed? A Response to Professors Trueman and Gaffin.” Westminster Theological Journal 65/2 (2003): 331-343.
  • “Salvation Now, Salvation Forever: Reformation Amillennialism.” Christian History 18/1 (1999): 20-22.
  • “Augustine: The Development of a Leade.,” Tabletalk 20/6 (1996): 8-10.
  • “The Search for a Gracious God,” Biblical Bulletin 86 (1995): 4-5.

Book reviews

  • “God, Plurality, and Theological Method: A Response to Kevin Vanhoozer’s Remythologizing Theology,” Southeastern Theological Review 4/1 (2013): 41-51.
  • Steven Knowles. Beyond Evangelicalism: The Theological Methodology of Stanley Grenz. Religious Studies Review 37/3 (2011): 194.
  • Mark D. Thompson, A Clear and Present Word: The Clarity of Scripture. Religious Studies Review 33/2 (2007): 126.
  • Jens Zimmermann, Recovering Theological Hermeneutics: An Incarnational-Trinitarian Theory of Interpretation. Religious Studies Review 32/1 (2006): 28.
  • Roger E. Olson, The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform. Books & Culture, 5/6 (1999): 15-16.
  • Donald Bloesch, Theology of Word and Spirit: Authority & Method in Theology. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40/3 (1997): 491-3.
  • Richard Muller, The Study of Theology: From Biblical Interpretation to Contemporary Formulation. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 38/1 (1995): 134-5.