Protestants in the West have a rich heritage of systematic theology—but it doesn’t always translate easily into new cultural contexts. Is a return to narrative-focused, biblical theology the answer? Chris Bruno, Assistant Professor of Greek and New Testament at Bethlehem College and Seminary, joins us to answer and weigh in on his own cross-cultural experiences in Hawaii. We also address ways for small, unconnected churches can pool their resources together to deepen their impact at home and abroad.
Chris Bruno is a Christian, husband, father, pastor, and teacher who desires to give his life to helping others see the centrality of Jesus in all the Scriptures for the glory of God. He has served at Northland International University, Cedarville University, and Trinity Christian School in Kailua, HI. Before that, he was pastor of discipleship and training at Harbor Church in Honolulu, HI.
He has written and co-written five books, as well as written articles and reviews for several publications and websites, including The Journal for the Evangelical Theological Society, Tyndale Bulletin, Westminster Theological Journal, Vetus Testamentum, Themelios, The Bulletin for Ecclesial Theology, Reformation 21, and The Gospel Coalition and has presented papers at the Tyndale Fellowship Triennial Meeting, the ETS Annual meeting, the SBL Annual meeting, and the CPT Fellowship. He is a member of ETS, SBL, IBR, and CPT. Chris and his wife Katie have been married since 2001 and have four sons who love to be outdoors playing ball or pretending to be super heroes, all while wrestling their dad.
You can follow Chris on Twitter at @chrisbruno1.
Here’s a recap of the resources we recommended in this episode:
- The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words (Chris Bruno)
- The Whole Story of the Bible in 16 Words (Chris Bruno)
- Churches Partnering Together: Biblical Strategies for Fellowship, Evangelism, and Compassion (Chris Bruno and Matt Dirks)
- The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments (Thomas Schreiner)
- Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church (Michael Lawrence)
- The Short Studies in Biblical Theology series (Crossway)
- The New Studies in Biblical Theology series (IVP)
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