Jonathan Watson

Christian (ن). Husband. Father of four. Chair & Professor of Christian Studies at Charleston Southern University. Author. Musician. Lover of puns.

[Jonathan Watson @JonathanDWatson]

I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with @JLSteffaniak and @AyscueBrandon about my book. Thanks for inviting me to speak with you guys!

[The London Lyceum @LondonLyceum]

🎧 to @CSUNIV Prof @JonathanDWatson talk about his @LexhamPress book "In the Name of Our Lord: Four Models of the Relationship Between Baptism, Catechesis, and Communion"

📘: https://t.co/npPBeMFT6B

🔊🔊🔊: https://t.co/5sjgbb03jS

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

“What would you say to a young Christian who is nervous about the future?”

I love @TimKellerNYC’s answer. I think about it every Easter.

[Jonathan Watson @JonathanDWatson]

https://t.co/LzfuUvEqDW A good word here from my friend @mattmillsap “If we forget this heritage, & our students leave our institutions fluent in orthodoxy & orthopraxy yet impoverished in imagination, have we truly succeeded in the formation of the whole Christian person?”

[Scott R. Swain @scottrswain]

Whatever AI’s legitimate uses turn out to be, this is an extremely important point for educators. (Because Aristotle is right.)

[Jonathan Watson @JonathanDWatson]

@lukestamps So sorry to hear this, Luke. Praying for you and all those affected. May the Lord be with you all.

[Andrew T. Walker @AndrewTWalker]

Last week, a student asked me whether it was appropriate for Vice President Vance to recite the Nicene Creed while hosting the Charlie Kirk Show. It’s a great question—especially in light of all the public Christianity on display at Kirk’s memorial service yesterday.

So, should Baptists be uneasy about this, given our convictions about the separation of church and state? Here’s what I told my student:

1. Public officials may bring their faith into public life.
It is entirely appropriate for leaders to express religious convictions in their political messaging. Baptists are not Rawlsian liberals who imagine that one’s deepest “comprehensive doctrines” can or should be bracketed out of public life. Our faith shapes our moral reasoning, and that inevitably bears on public life. This is why, even when liberal Catholics appeal to their faith to justify a political stance, I may disagree with them, but I do not object to the act of bringing faith into the conversation. Faith is architectonic—it gives foundational posture to all arenas of a person's life.

2. Religious liberty applies to politicians, too.
Public officials retain the same religious freedom as every other citizen. There is no formal—or even informal—requirement that they sanitize their language of religious references or motivations. To demand otherwise is to impose a secular test for office (that our Constitution prohibits).

3. We distinguish between the person and the office.
Baptists are clear: if the “Office” of the Vice President began legislating with regard to religion—convening synods, dictating doctrine, or enacting laws that establish a church—that would be a violation of Baptist convictions around church and state. But what we saw yesterday was not an abuse of office. They were citizens who happened to hold office, exercising their faith in public.

4. Civic religion has a legitimate place.
What we witnessed from numerous public officials was not a de jure attempt to legislate Christianity but rather the best of American civic religion: a recognition that public order rests on transcendent authority. Such expressions remind us that moral reasoning, political traditions, and civic virtue are not sustained by government alone (or secularism, for that matter) but by an appeal to God as the ultimate source of order.

What occurred yesterday was a demonstration of the complementarity of civic order and religious foundation. Baptists should celebrate it.

[Ronni Kurtz @RonniKurtz]

This chart is not making the editorial cuts as I need to get a manuscript down a few thousand words.

Figured I'd post it here in the small chance it may be helpful to others.

[Jonathan Watson @JonathanDWatson]

“If the works of God are viewed by their own light, they naturally compel admiration and worship.”—Bavinck

[Fred Sanders @FredFredSanders]

C.S. Lewis on how his way of writing about Christian doctrine for a general audience is "just a technique," adding "I’m desperately anxious to see it widely learned." Oct 1945 letter (Letters Vol 2)

[Jonathan Watson @JonathanDWatson]

@mattmillsap @SWBTS Thanks, brother! The feeling is mutual.

[Matthew Millsap @mattmillsap]

28 years later, and we’re almost here. This development isn’t quite “Gattaca,” but it’s close enough to be deeply concerning in its own right.

If the development of such technologies continue unabated, we are looking at an eventual future in which Christians (and others) are discriminated against for refusing to modify or engineer the genetics of their preborn children.

Mark it down.

[Jonathan Watson @JonathanDWatson]

Great conversation between two of my favorite theologians!

[Ched Spellman @chedspellman]

I very much enjoyed this conversation about a very illuminating book. One of my favorite parts is the way he explains how biblical interpretation can change the world!

[Ched Spellman @chedspellman]

I very much enjoyed this conversation about a very illuminating book. One of my favorite parts is the way he explains how biblical interpretation can change the world!

[Ched Spellman @chedspellman]

When you're working through "Christology from Above" and "Christology from Below" (or arguing against these categories), don't forget about "Christology from the Beginning!"

https://t.co/wWzwYj50MP

[Ched Spellman @chedspellman]

Enough!

[Ched Spellman @chedspellman]

“Theological education is but a noisy gong or clanging cymbal if it is not helping students to read the Bible well in order to understand God truly.”

—@VanhoozerKevin, Mere Hermeneutics, 97.

[Paul Chitwood @DrPaulChitwood]

Refugees find care in city known for slave trade history https://t.co/3lLfrihCP1

[Brandon Smith @brandon_d_smith]

In just a couple of weeks, me & @M_Y_Emerson’s new book from @crossway releases.

Preorder here: https://t.co/YxYYgd3IMJ

It’s meant to be an accessible biblical-theological intro to inseparable operations, showing how the doctrine helps us understand other major doctrines.

[Jonathan Watson @JonathanDWatson]

@brandon_d_smith @M_Y_Emerson @crossway I’m looking forward to this. Congratulations!

[Ched Spellman @chedspellman]

Here's a preview of a little project I've been cooking.

It's a little book on the Bible's "big picture." I'll post a link when it's available to order/pre-order if you're interested. Lord willing, next month!

Here's the cover & a few further details:

https://t.co/U3q8R2YZIq

[Todd Hains @hains_todd]

🚨 @Christianbook has my book on Luther and the rule of faith 50% off: https://t.co/D4Hh5cF227