Is there any resources available for logos that has a biography for Henry C. Thiessen?
Yup, he's got a brief entry in Nelson's New Christian Dictionary, a longer entry in Dictionary of Christianity in America, and a whole chapter in Handbook of Evangelical Theologians.
I've created a collection called Biographical Resources which is useful to search when I'm looking for such a bio. Let me know if you'd like info on creating such a collection for yourself for future use.
The Handbook of Evangelical Theologians has an extensive entry (>6000 words) (and a picture!).http://www.logos.com/product/1492/handbook-of-evangelical-theologians
The next best is the Dictionary of Christianity in America, but its entry is only 200 words long.http://www.logos.com/product/735/dictionary-of-christianity-in-america
Edit: Go to bed Rosie. [:P]
Thanks, I just picked up the handbook on evangelical theologians. I was pretty good, I am left a little wanting on whether Henry Thiessen was a moderate calvinist, or arminian. Do either of those other two volumes make any point concerning his perspective on soteriology? I found that he was dispensational, and adhered to pre-trib rapture. But book I purchased was not very explanatory on his reformed or non reformed perspectives. It had enough for me to label him as a moderate calvinist, or arminian, but I was left kinda wanting..
Blessings in Christ
Edit: Go to bed Rosie.
Oh c'mon, it's only 11-something p.m. If I get to bed before midnight it's an early night for me. [:)]
I am left a little wanting on whether Henry Thiessen was a moderate calvinist, or arminian. Do either of those other two volumes make any point concerning his perspective on soteriology?
No, neither of them says anything on that. You'd be better off reading some of his own writings yourself to determine his positions on soteriology. His Lectures in Systematic Theology, available in Logos, probably contains as much as he's ever been willing to be pinned down on it. You can preview it on Amazon.com. Here is the TOC of the section on Soteriology:
Do either of those other two volumes make any point concerning his perspective on soteriology?
Thiessen has a series of articles on this topic. The first is in Bibliotheca Sacra volume 92 "Will the Church Pass Through the Tribulation?"
More on the Journals can be found here.
Blessings
I own it, I just wanting to hear others perspectives on it. Thiessen is rather confusing in some sections. His description of union with Christ comes is subsequent to his discussion of justification, and regeneration, yet is antecedent to adoption. Yet he speaks of another union under federal headship but see's them as separate unions(?) I am just not positive on some of his positions, and what to double check with others that I am not reading him incorrectly. I don't trust my own understanding..[;)]
His Lectures in Systematic Theology, available in Logos, probably contains as much as he's ever been willing to be pinned down on it.
The Logos version of Lectures in Systematic Theology is the revised version (by Vernon D. Doerksen), which some individuals on Amazon say changed some of Thiessen's views.
Foundations of Pentecostal Theology quotes extensively from the original version, and contains this quote:
In his Lectures in Systematic Theology, Henry C. Thiessen, discussing Predestination says: “God foreknew what one would do in response to His common grace; and He elected those whom He foresaw would respond positively.” --Duffield, G. P., & Van Cleave, N. M. (1983). Foundations of Pentecostal theology (81). Los Angeles, Calif.: L.I.F.E. Bible College.
Take that how you will. There are other quotes as well. It would be interesting to compare the Logos version of LST with the quotes in FPT. But I don't own it.
The Logos version of Lectures in Systematic Theology is the revised version (by Vernon D. Doerksen), which some individuals on Amazon say changed some of Thiessen's views. Foundations of Pentecostal Theology quotes extensively from the original version, and contains this quote: In his Lectures in Systematic Theology, Henry C. Thiessen, discussing Predestination says: “God foreknew what one would do in response to His common grace; and He elected those whom He foresaw would respond positively.” --Duffield, G. P., & Van Cleave, N. M. (1983). Foundations of Pentecostal theology (81). Los Angeles, Calif.: L.I.F.E. Bible College. Take that how you will. There are other quotes as well. It would be interesting to compare the Logos version of LST with the quotes in FPT. But I don't own it.
Foundations of Pentecostal Theology is also available in Logos and I have it.
Here are some more quotes of Thiessen from it. I unfortunately don't have Thiessen so I can't find what the revised version has done with these quotes. The page numbers are no doubt different, but at least they might give you some help in pinning down where these quotes (or revisions of them) are in the book if you can't find the exact wording.
Thiessen says of Providence: "The Christian view affirms that God has not merely created the universe together with all its properties and powers, and that He is preserving all that He has created, but that as a holy, benevolent, wise, and omnipotent Being, He also exercises sovereign control over it. This sovereign control is called providence." (Thiessen, 177)
Thiessen makes a unique statement: "Had man fallen without a tempter, he would have originated his own sin, and would have himself become a Satan." (Thiessen, 248, 249)
Thiessen quotes Charles Hodge as saying: "Sin includes guilt and pollution; the one expresses its relation to the justice, the other to the holiness of God." Then he adds: "In so far as sin is a transgression of the law, it is guilt; in so far as it is a principle, it is pollution." (Thiessen, 245)
Lest the term "depravity" be misunderstood, it is well to note the following, quoted from Lectures in Systematic Theology, by Thiessen:
Thiessen says: "The sufferings and death of Christ are similar to those of the missionary who enters a leper colony for life, in order to save the lepers." He further points out that the theory teaches that "the love of God manifested in the incarnation, the sufferings and death of Christ, are to soften human hearts and lead them to repentance." Here, then, there is no thought of the wrath of God to be propitiated, and Christ dying as the Substitute for our sins. (Thiessen quotes are from p. 316)
The Love of God did not save sinners; it caused God to be willing to give His Son to die for us and thus satisfy the just demands of His own Holiness. Again quoting Thiessen: "On this theory it is difficult to explain how Old Testament believers were saved, since they did not have this object-lesson of the love of God." (Thiessen, 316)
It seems that maybe I should have ordered Thiessen after all while it was still in pre-pub. I'd never heard of him and didn't realize his importance to so many people.
What is Election? Thiessen says that, in its redemptive sense, Election is: "That sovereign act of God in grace whereby He chose in Christ Jesus for salvation all those whom He foreknew would accept Him." (Thiessen, 344)
There are a couple more minor references to Thiessen but none of them seems to relate as much to his theology of soteriology as these do.
Thiessen observes: "As in the case of repentance so in the case of faith, the doctrine does not receive the attention that it deserves. Great emphasis is laid upon conduct; a man’s creed is said to be a matter of indifference. Yet a man’s life is governed by what he believes, and in religion by the PERSON in Whom he believes." (Thiessen, 355)
Thiessen has well summarized this section as follows: "We may define the emotional element of faith as the awakening of the soul to its personal needs and to the personal applicability of the redemption provided in Christ, together with an immediate assent to these truths." (Thiessen, 358)
Thiessen well says: "The sinner must not only be pardoned for his past sins, but also supplied with a positive righteousness before he can have fellowship with God. This need is supplied in the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the believer." (Thiessen, 363, 364)
When we declare that we are justified through faith we must realize that faith is not something that we meritoriously offer to God for our salvation. It is only the means through which we receive His gracious provision. We can say of faith, as we said of repentance, quoting Thiessen: "We are not saved for our faith, but through our faith." (Thiessen, 382)
Adoption does not mean son-making, but son-placing. Thus the child is placed as a son; the minor as an adult. Thiessen summarizes: "In regeneration we receive a new life; in justification, a new standing; and in adoption, a new position." (Thiessen, 373)
There is a difference between what God determines to bring to pass and what He merely permits to happen. Thiessen asserts:
I have noticed that Foundations of Pentecostal Theology cites many secondary resources. Just be careful to note whether the quote is actually from Thiessen and not from a secondary source. The authors carefully footnote the sources, but I have noticed a lot of secondary resources when the primary resource should have been readily available.
Yes, please.
I've created a collection called Biographical Resources which is useful to search when I'm looking for such a bio. Let me know if you'd like info on creating such a collection for yourself for future use. Yes, please.
Sure, I'll do my best. First note that I had to rely on tagging for many of these resources to show up in my collection. Here's the collection rule I used:
title:biog OR subject:biog OR mytag:Biog -subject:("Jesus Christ", Gospels, "Bible - O.T.", Apostles) -mytag:BibleChar -type:media
The first three terms, title:biog OR subject:biog OR mytag:Biog, ensure that I include all books that have biog (which will pick up both biography and biographical) in their title or subject or which I've tagged as Biog. The next clause omits books whose biographical subject is a Bible character since I consider those to be a separate category than biographies (I have a Bible Characters collection for those). In my perusal of subject lines the criteria I'm omitting here should exclude anything I don't want in this collection. The minus sign is for exclusion, the parentheses group a list of terms together under that same filter (subject) and the comma separator forms a list to be treated all together. I'm also exclusing books which don't happen to have those terms in their subject but which I've tagged BibleChar, as well as media resources which don't generally have useful textual content for research in them.
I did have to tag 115 resources in my Library to make sure they did show up as they weren't picked up by the other criteria. Here's all you need to know on Tagging: http://wiki.logos.com/Tagging And here's a complete explanation on making collections: http://wiki.logos.com/Collections
Here's my collection as it stands: 1881.biog.zip
I might have missed some, and you might not agree 100% with my categorization, but it'll give you a start on tagging your resources. You also might not own all of these, but for ones that you own, you can click on the linked title and it will open it in Logos. So in this way you can find out if there are other biographical resources I have which you think you might like to get.
Thanks Rosie!
His Lectures in Systematic Theology, available in Logos, probably contains as much as he's ever been willing to be pinned down on it. The Logos version of Lectures in Systematic Theology is the revised version (by Vernon D. Doerksen), which some individuals on Amazon say changed some of Thiessen's views.
Logos did not say it was revised by someone other than the author (and I neglected to do my due diligence). This year I’m reading through several systematic theology books and this was to be one of them. I have the hardback 1949 edition, 12th printing Dec 1971. I looked up some of the quotes that Rosie was kind enough to post as well as comparing the versions in other sections. There are places where paragraphs are deleted and something else written in its place in a way appearing to be theologically driven. Other places he rewrites the original text so the overall view is the same but details subtly different.
The version in Logos is not Thiessen’s book. This book should be titled Systematic Theology by Doerksen based on an outline by Thiessen. I will be reading the dead tree edition.
