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Johnny Barnes earned a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. When he took the required class on the Trinity, he couldn’t help but notice that many of the texts appealed to in order to support the Trinity were problematic in various ways. And he did not see anyone in Scripture appealing to “mystery” to attempt to deal with problems of coherence.
Finding out online that there are biblical unitarian Christians, he decided to look into these issues, and he became convinced that New Testament theology is unitarian and not trinitarian, in other words, that it teaches the one God to be the Father himself, not a three-and-one or tripersonal deity which is never mentioned.
. . . if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9 (NET Bible)
In this first half of our conversation we discuss Mr. Barnes’s spiritual background, his time at Dallas Theological Seminary, his experience in their required Trinity class, problems for “two-natures” theories about Jesus, how present-day seminary education virtually ignores unitarian Christianity and seems uninterested in hearing both sides of the argument, clashing evangelical views on whether or not one must believe in the Trinity to be saved, the reactions of his friends to his change of mind, the reaction of DTS to his change of mind, various unitarian people and sources he found helpful as he was deliberating, and what he is doing now.
Links for this episode:
Chaldler, “Unorthodox Christology in General Baptist History: The Legacy of Matthew Caffyn“
“Negative Mysterianism” about the Trinity
podcast 145 – ‘Tis Mystery All: the Immortal dies!
Debate – Dr. Dale Tuggy vs. Dr. Michael Brown
Channing vs. Stuart on the Trinity and the Incarnation
podcast 191 – Ware’s Outline of the Testimony of Scripture Against the Trinity
What is essential to the gospel, according to Luke?
Dale Tuggy – What John 1 Meant (UCA Conference 2021)
The Lost Early History of Unitarian Christian Theology – by Dr. Dale Tuggy
podcast 189 – The unfinished business of the Reformation
podcast 252 – Fred Sanders on Seeing the Trinity in Scripture, and his Secret
podcast 63 – Thomas Belsham and other scholars on John 8:58
podcast 260 – How to Argue that the Bible is Trinitarian
Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:22; Romans 10:9
podcast 286 – Is the Trinity Essential? – Three Views
podcast 2 – the “Athanasian Creed”
Gregory of Nazianzus on the Three and the One
This week’s thinking music is “Slider” by Mr. Smith.
