Books by Kegan A Chandler
Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2019
Foreword by Dr. Dale Tuggy.
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity marks one of the most signi... more Foreword by Dr. Dale Tuggy.
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity marks one of the most significant turning points in the epic of Western civilization. It is also one of history’s most controversial and hotly-debated episodes. Why did Constantine join a persecuted sect? When did he convert? And what kind of Christian did he ultimately become? Such questions have perennially challenged historians, but modern scholarship has opened a new door towards understanding the fourth century’s most famous and mysterious convert.
In Constantine and the Divine Mind, Chandler offers a new portrait of Constantine as a deeply religious man on a quest to restore what he believed was once the original religion of mankind: monotheism. By tracing this theological quest and important historical trends in Roman paganism, Chandler illuminates the process by which Constantine embraced Christianity, and how the reasons for that embrace continued to manifest in his religious policies. In this we discover not only Constantine’s personal religious journey, but the reason why Christianity was first developed into a world power.
ISBN: 9781532689925
Pub. Restoration Fellowship (2016); pp. 543.
Foreword by Sir Anthony F. Buzzard, MA, MTh, Hon. PhD.
At a very early stage in Church history, ... more Foreword by Sir Anthony F. Buzzard, MA, MTh, Hon. PhD.
At a very early stage in Church history, influences from the Greco-Roman world forcefully pressed the traditional God of Judaism through a system of pagan philosophy. The theological battles which followed produced serious problems for Christianity, and imperial edicts made accepting philosophical statements about God a matter of life or death.
Today, scholars are inviting us to reexamine whether these philosophies played any role in the preaching of the historical Jesus. Could reacquiring the Jewish worldview of the first century help us to better understand Jesus' theology in our own time? Could revisiting Church history show us where we went wrong?
In The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma, Chandler embarks on a dynamic investigation of the developmental history of orthodox theology and its impact on popular interpretations of the New Testament. Relayed in two parts, the first provides a panoramic view of Hellenic influence on the early Christian faith, while the second revisits biblical interpretation. Writing for both the dedicated Christian student and the interested public, Chandler boldly appeals to both ancient history and modern scholarship to inform us about the origins of our most sacred traditions, and challenges the reader to contrast those ideas with the words of Jesus.
Papers by Kegan A Chandler
Journal of Religion in Japan, 2024
In comparative studies, Tenrikyō’s this-worldly, millenarian vision has found little resonance wi... more In comparative studies, Tenrikyō’s this-worldly, millenarian vision has found little resonance with Christian expectations of going to heaven after death. However, an “earthly turn” in Christian eschatology is redirecting Christian expectations away from heaven and toward bodily resurrection into an earthly Kingdom of God, providing new opportunity to revisit the potential historical and conceptual overlap between Tenrikyō’s view of earthly renewal and that of Christianity—in both its first-century and contemporary “restorationist” forms. This article considers the historical origin of Tenrikyō’s millenarianism against a backdrop of late-Tokugawa yonaoshi (world renewal) and Miroku-based movements. Here, the timeline for the appearance of millenarian views of yonaoshi proposed by Miura (2019) is revised to give Tenrikyō’s foundress primacy as a millenarian innovator. I furthermore suggest that monotheism may have been a catalyst for millenarian yonaoshi development. Finally, I propose “yonaoshi millenarianism” as a cross-cultural, comparative category applicable to both Tenrikyō and early/restorationist Christianity.
Journal for the Study of Religion, 2024
In the wake of Said's landmark work, Orientalism (Said 1979), scholars have been widely concerned... more In the wake of Said's landmark work, Orientalism (Said 1979), scholars have been widely concerned with countering the value-laden interpretations which have historically traveled with 'colonialist' or 'Orientalist' analyses of religions in Japan. However, modern studies of early Japanese Christianity, i.e., Japan's Kakure Kirishitan (hidden Christians), despite their emergence in the 'post-colonialist world', have often maintained a subterranean, Orientalizing tendency to generalize and abstract an inauthentic or compromised Christianity of early modern Japan against that of a more genuinely Christian West. Kakure interpretations of monotheism, the doctrine of the Trinity, and certain worship practices are portrayed as 'polytheistic', 'syncretistic', and as uniquely serious misunderstandings or abrogations of both 'Christian theology' and the very concept of monotheism. Meanwhile, Western Christianities, despite their own analogous and statistically-demonstrable penchant for misconception and theological imagination, are subsequently implied to be more authentically or quintessentially monotheistic or Christian. This essentializing configuration betrays an a priori separation of 'Japanese' and 'Western' religions and raises the question as to whether analysts operating in the 'postcolonial era' have yet to become fully aware of the basic warning of Said's Orientalisma still-timely message which is not, as some seem to believe, centered on the errors of a specifically Western hegemony, but on the dangers of otherizing in general as a form of devaluation.
The Japan Mission Journal (Oriens Institute for Religious Research), 2021
is a Ph.D. student at the University of Cape Town where he is researching monotheism in Japan. He... more is a Ph.D. student at the University of Cape Town where he is researching monotheism in Japan. He serves as an instructor at Atlanta Bible College, and is the author of several books and articles on monotheism and Christology including Constantine and the Divine Mind (Wipf and Stock, 2019). 'Not by one path is so great a mystery to be reached.'-Symmachus, 384 CE Few religionists of late antiquity have remained as attractive as the Roman emperor Julian (331-363 CE), the bookish nephew of Constantine the Great whose brief but passionate rule, so fraught with public religious controversy, has continued to entice historian, theologian, and poet alike. Julian's dramatic failure to reverse the empire's Christian trajectory, a course initiated by the overwhelming influence of his uncle, is well known. Less penetrable perhaps has been the precise nature of the 'Hellenistic' religious engine driving his illfated quest. Doubtless Julian's own 'complex character' has left his religious views more vulnerable to scholarly interpretation (see Downey, 305), and certainly in his own time Julian earned for himself a variety of names: 'Defender,' 'Restorer,' or, in the words of Libanius in his funeral oration for Julian, 'Disciple of Deities and Friend of Deities.' In the eyes of the Christians who overcame his legacy, one name prevailed: 'Apostate.' See the invectives of Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 CE), who 'created' Julian as 'the Apostate (Elm 2012a:9-16). What names have modern historians given him? According to one influential view, Julian was an eccentric, something of a maverick practitioner of an unconventional, theurgic form of Neoplatonism inherited directly from Maximus and Priscus (Bowersock 1978:29-30). Rowland Smith (1995) famously ar
The Japan Mission Journal (Oriens Institute for Religious Research), 2021
During the period of Japan’s modernization (1868-1945), many Japanese Christians rejected the doc... more During the period of Japan’s modernization (1868-1945), many Japanese Christians rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and embraced unitarian theology. Explanations of this phenomenon have appealed to a Japanese misunderstanding of the Trinity, an ignorance of church tradition, a preference for personal experience over the Bible, and a desire to syncretize Confucian ideology with Christianity. This article explores the historical interaction between Japan’s cultural bedrock of Confucian ethics, the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, and the unitarian interpretation of church history and the New Testament, in order to clarify the theological concerns of the period. As will be demonstrated, the reasons why many Meiji-era intellectuals rejected the Trinity were far more historically and biblically-motivated than previous studies have allowed
Journal of Early Christian History (Routledge - UNISA), 2021
Recent inquiries into the Christology of Rome’s first Christian emperor have produced a more or l... more Recent inquiries into the Christology of Rome’s first Christian emperor have produced a more or less “orthodox” image. While it is widely acknowledged that Constantine’s Christian doctrine developed throughout his career, his vision of Jesus at the time of the Council of Nicaea (325 CE) has been regularly cast as a Trinitarian Christology of co-eternality and ontological unity with God the Father. Recent analysis has not, however, taken into account the range of possible interpretations of the available data. By revisiting this data, including Constantine’s Oration, an important letter from Eusebius, the history of the word homoousios, and the Hermetic philosophical tradition, it is possible to locate within Constantine’s views a subordinationist Christology—a Christology which the Council of Nicaea allegedly condemned.
Thomas Emlyn's An Humble Inquiry (Updated Edition), 2021
An Humble Inquiry into the Scripture-Account of Jesus Christ (1702) by Thomas Emlyn - Updated Edi... more An Humble Inquiry into the Scripture-Account of Jesus Christ (1702) by Thomas Emlyn - Updated Edition (Theophilus Press, 2021)
Introduction: "English Unitarianism and the Rise of Tolerance in the West" by Kegan A. Chandler
Edited by Dale Tuggy and Kegan A. Chandler
In 1702 the English Presbyterian minister and theologian Thomas Emlyn wrote An Humble Inquiry, a succinct and erudite argument for the subordination of Jesus Christ to God the Father. Because of his unitarian understanding of biblical christology and theology he was expelled by his denomination, and in 1703 he was tried for blasphemy by the state. Sentenced to prison and deprived of his wealth, Emlyn's persecution by both the state and his fellow Protestants became an exemplar of the need for religious tolerance.
This new Updated Edition makes Emlyn's potent and controversial eighteenth-century book accessible to twenty-first century readers, and is enhanced by notes, scriptural citations, a complete bibliography of Emlyn's writings, and a historical introduction.
Journal of European Baptist Studies (IBTS Centre Amsterdam), 2019
In Baptist histories, English preacher Matthew Caffyn (1628-1714), thanks to his unorthodox Chris... more In Baptist histories, English preacher Matthew Caffyn (1628-1714), thanks to his unorthodox Christology, is regularly identified as a theological deviant, and one working under the influence of ‘eighteenth-century rationalism’ or other external forces. By reconsidering the progress of unorthodox Christology among the early Baptists and other Reformers, I argue that Caffyn’s Christology represents not a sudden aberration, but an unsurprising expression of the elemental Baptist instinct. This instinct includes a commitment to being scriptural, to primitivism, and to theological tolerance within the community. In this light, I argue that Caffyn’s place in the Baptist tradition must be revisited in future histories.
Modern explorations of the religious context of early Christianity often neglect analysis of Herm... more Modern explorations of the religious context of early Christianity often neglect analysis of Hermeticism. This paper provides an introduction to the origins and nature of the pagan figure Hermes Trismegistus and the esoteric Hermetic tradition, in order to provide the student with a historical foundation for further critical study. The paper begins by introducing the important foundation-stones of Graeco-Egyptian syncretism, Greek and Egyptian deities, Greek philosophical trends, and mystical Hellenistic Judaism. The paper then explores the Hermetic tradition relative to its literature, its religious characteristics, its dating, and its relationship to Christian Gnosticism. Also considered are the opinions of several Church Fathers, and the value of Hermetic studies for analysis of the Fourth Gospel and the early Christian world.
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Books by Kegan A Chandler
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity marks one of the most significant turning points in the epic of Western civilization. It is also one of history’s most controversial and hotly-debated episodes. Why did Constantine join a persecuted sect? When did he convert? And what kind of Christian did he ultimately become? Such questions have perennially challenged historians, but modern scholarship has opened a new door towards understanding the fourth century’s most famous and mysterious convert.
In Constantine and the Divine Mind, Chandler offers a new portrait of Constantine as a deeply religious man on a quest to restore what he believed was once the original religion of mankind: monotheism. By tracing this theological quest and important historical trends in Roman paganism, Chandler illuminates the process by which Constantine embraced Christianity, and how the reasons for that embrace continued to manifest in his religious policies. In this we discover not only Constantine’s personal religious journey, but the reason why Christianity was first developed into a world power.
ISBN: 9781532689925
At a very early stage in Church history, influences from the Greco-Roman world forcefully pressed the traditional God of Judaism through a system of pagan philosophy. The theological battles which followed produced serious problems for Christianity, and imperial edicts made accepting philosophical statements about God a matter of life or death.
Today, scholars are inviting us to reexamine whether these philosophies played any role in the preaching of the historical Jesus. Could reacquiring the Jewish worldview of the first century help us to better understand Jesus' theology in our own time? Could revisiting Church history show us where we went wrong?
In The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma, Chandler embarks on a dynamic investigation of the developmental history of orthodox theology and its impact on popular interpretations of the New Testament. Relayed in two parts, the first provides a panoramic view of Hellenic influence on the early Christian faith, while the second revisits biblical interpretation. Writing for both the dedicated Christian student and the interested public, Chandler boldly appeals to both ancient history and modern scholarship to inform us about the origins of our most sacred traditions, and challenges the reader to contrast those ideas with the words of Jesus.
Papers by Kegan A Chandler
Introduction: "English Unitarianism and the Rise of Tolerance in the West" by Kegan A. Chandler
Edited by Dale Tuggy and Kegan A. Chandler
In 1702 the English Presbyterian minister and theologian Thomas Emlyn wrote An Humble Inquiry, a succinct and erudite argument for the subordination of Jesus Christ to God the Father. Because of his unitarian understanding of biblical christology and theology he was expelled by his denomination, and in 1703 he was tried for blasphemy by the state. Sentenced to prison and deprived of his wealth, Emlyn's persecution by both the state and his fellow Protestants became an exemplar of the need for religious tolerance.
This new Updated Edition makes Emlyn's potent and controversial eighteenth-century book accessible to twenty-first century readers, and is enhanced by notes, scriptural citations, a complete bibliography of Emlyn's writings, and a historical introduction.
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity marks one of the most significant turning points in the epic of Western civilization. It is also one of history’s most controversial and hotly-debated episodes. Why did Constantine join a persecuted sect? When did he convert? And what kind of Christian did he ultimately become? Such questions have perennially challenged historians, but modern scholarship has opened a new door towards understanding the fourth century’s most famous and mysterious convert.
In Constantine and the Divine Mind, Chandler offers a new portrait of Constantine as a deeply religious man on a quest to restore what he believed was once the original religion of mankind: monotheism. By tracing this theological quest and important historical trends in Roman paganism, Chandler illuminates the process by which Constantine embraced Christianity, and how the reasons for that embrace continued to manifest in his religious policies. In this we discover not only Constantine’s personal religious journey, but the reason why Christianity was first developed into a world power.
ISBN: 9781532689925
At a very early stage in Church history, influences from the Greco-Roman world forcefully pressed the traditional God of Judaism through a system of pagan philosophy. The theological battles which followed produced serious problems for Christianity, and imperial edicts made accepting philosophical statements about God a matter of life or death.
Today, scholars are inviting us to reexamine whether these philosophies played any role in the preaching of the historical Jesus. Could reacquiring the Jewish worldview of the first century help us to better understand Jesus' theology in our own time? Could revisiting Church history show us where we went wrong?
In The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma, Chandler embarks on a dynamic investigation of the developmental history of orthodox theology and its impact on popular interpretations of the New Testament. Relayed in two parts, the first provides a panoramic view of Hellenic influence on the early Christian faith, while the second revisits biblical interpretation. Writing for both the dedicated Christian student and the interested public, Chandler boldly appeals to both ancient history and modern scholarship to inform us about the origins of our most sacred traditions, and challenges the reader to contrast those ideas with the words of Jesus.
Introduction: "English Unitarianism and the Rise of Tolerance in the West" by Kegan A. Chandler
Edited by Dale Tuggy and Kegan A. Chandler
In 1702 the English Presbyterian minister and theologian Thomas Emlyn wrote An Humble Inquiry, a succinct and erudite argument for the subordination of Jesus Christ to God the Father. Because of his unitarian understanding of biblical christology and theology he was expelled by his denomination, and in 1703 he was tried for blasphemy by the state. Sentenced to prison and deprived of his wealth, Emlyn's persecution by both the state and his fellow Protestants became an exemplar of the need for religious tolerance.
This new Updated Edition makes Emlyn's potent and controversial eighteenth-century book accessible to twenty-first century readers, and is enhanced by notes, scriptural citations, a complete bibliography of Emlyn's writings, and a historical introduction.