Jeff S Kennedy

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I am a PhD mentor-supervisor for the Liberty University Ph.D. in Bible Exposition Program; Adjunct Professor for Rawlings School of Divinity. I also serve as the senior pastor at Christ Community Church in Idaho Falls. Have taught courses in Apologetics, Theology, NT backgrounds, hermeneutical theory, teaching theory, biblical studies.

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Jesus' Subversive Reading of the Isaian Jubilee: Luke 4:16–30 in Theological-Historiographical Perspective

Dissertation, 2022

A growing number of scholars have proposed that Luke, or his sources, fabricated the story of Jes... more A growing number of scholars have proposed that Luke, or his sources, fabricated the story of Jesus reading a text in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:14–30) in order to appeal to the literate sensibilities of Luke’s Greek audience. The thesis of this dissertation is that Luke’s portrayal of Jesus as a capable public reader and expositor of the Scripture is historically credible and Christologically significant. Rather than implying that Jesus was a scribal-literate reader, Luke’s synagogue narrative signals that Jesus was a capable and a welcomed lay-reader of the Prophets, and a capable yet unwelcomed expositor who appeared to have interpreted the Isaian Jubilee with divine authority. The historical issue of Jewish education and Luke's Christological aims require an explicitly theological-historiographical approach to the subject. The hypothesis of this dissertation is first supported by the existence of non-specialized education through first-century synagogues. This general education likely produced lay-readers who were less than scribal-literate but able to handle and read certain texts in public. The thesis is further supported by Luke’s Christological focus of the unit and Jesus’s exposition of Isaiah 61:1–2 and 58:6, whereby he unilaterally subverts a well-established Jewish liberation tradition that envisioned God’s favor on Israel and vengeance for Gentiles (Luke 4:18–19). This Christological perspective and its implications for the Nazarenes best explains the furious response to Jesus in the Nazareth synagogue, resulting in his expulsion from their town and the escalating tensions between him and the scribal-literate class.

format_quoteLuke's portrayal of Jesus as a subversive figure in Isaiah's exegesis reflects tensions with Jewish interpretations, inciting hostile reactions from locals.format_quote

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An Appeal to Mystery Without "Punting": Revisiting Molinism's Biblical Problem in Light of Ephesians 1:4–11 and Romans 11:33–36

by Jeff S Kennedy and Jeffrey Kennedy

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal, 2023

Molinists maintain that middle knowledge is the best candidate for settling the historical debate... more Molinists maintain that middle knowledge is the best candidate for settling the historical debate on God's sovereignty and man's free will. The philosophical sophistication of the view can be alluring, and the efforts of Molinists to rationally defend it against criticisms have been impressive. But does Molinism still have a biblical problem? Proponents argue that the doctrine is compatible with the Bible's teaching on God's knowledge of counterfactuals, though admittedly, it is not explicitly taught in Scripture. But this claim is more problematic than advocates for the theory have alleged. The present study maintains that in the absence of a more complete biblical revelation regarding God's knowledge logically prior to his eternal decree, philosophers of religion should exercise greater caution than is presently being advocated. It is argued that Paul supplies the reader with a necessary constraint to philosophical speculation regarding the deliberations of the divine mind (Rom 11:33-36), and it is John Calvin, not Luis de Molina, who best represents Paul's appeal to mystery in this respect. Far from being an intellectual "punt" to mystery, this is an occasion to join Paul in awestruck wonder in the face of the unknowable.

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Jeff S Kennedy

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