Steven Nemes - Theological Authority in the Church

Episode: In this episode Chris Tilling interviews Steven Nemes about his forthcoming book, Theological Authority in the Church (Eugene, Or.: Cascade, forthcoming [2023]). This new book by Steven Nemes argues, via an interpretation of the New Testament texts themselves, in favor of a “low” conception of ecclesial authority in theology. It maintains that no one in the Church has any further authority than that of derivatively, fallibly, and in principle reversibly relating and bearing witness to the teachings of Jesus and the works of God in Him. It concludes with an essay about the consequences of this thesis for the practice of Christian theology and the nature of Christian faith itself. It draws principally from the thought of Huldrych Zwingli and Adolf von Harnack.

Guest: Steven Nemes has a PhD in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, where he studied under Profs. Oliver Crisp and Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen. He is the author of Orthodoxy and Heresy, a volume in the Cambridge Elements in the Problems of God series, as well as of two forthcoming books, Theology of the Manifest: Christianity without Metaphysics, forthcoming with Lexington Press/Fortress Academic, and Theological Authority in the Church: Reconsidering Traditionalism and Hierarchy, forthcoming with Cascade Books. He currently works as an instructor of Latin and Greek at North Phoenix Preparatory Academy. He is happily married to Rachel, and they have a 6-month-old son named Cristian.

Steven appeared in a previous episode, debating divine simplicity here.

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