Credo Fellow Highlight: Craig A. Carter

Credo is Latin for “I believe.” From the creeds of the Church Fathers to the confessions of the Reformation, Christians have been faithful to confess the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Credo retrieves this classical and reformational heritage in order to create and cultivate theological renewal today. By bridging the gap between church and academy, Credo helps churchgoers, pastors, and students alike learn theology and retrieve orthodoxy for the sake of Christian fidelity today.

However, a team effort is required if the church and academy alike are to remain faithful to this orthodox faith, a team that spans denominations and brings together some of today’s most outstanding theologians, pastors, and writers. I am pleased to welcome the Credo Fellows, each of which embodies the spirit of Credo in their own teaching and writing ministries. Each week, we are highlighting one of the new fellows, allowing you to hear more about their passions, from the halls of patristic and medieval history to the corridors of dogmatics and classical literature.

Matthew Barrett, executive editor

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Craig A. Carter (Ph.D., University of St. Michael’s College) serves as Research Professor of Theology at Tyndale University in Toronto and as Theologian in Residence at Westney Heights Baptist Church. He previously served as a pastor for seven years in Baptist churches in Prince Edward Island and Moncton, New Brunswick, and taught Philosophy and Religious Studies at Atlantic Baptist University (now Crandall University). From 1995 to 2000, he served as Vice President and Academic Dean at Atlantic Baptist University. From 2000 to 2004, he served as Vice President and Academic Dean at Tyndale University College. Dr. Carter has taught courses on Christian Theology, Marriage in Theological Perspective, Augustine of Hippo, Doctrine of God, Doctrine of Christ and various advanced seminar topics. He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and preaches and teaches regularly at his home church. He is currently writing the third volume in the Great Tradition trilogy on the recovery of Nicene metaphysics. Other upcoming projects include an introduction to Theology in the Great Tradition and a theological commentary on Isaiah. He is married to Bonnie and they have three adult children and five grandchildren. They live in Pickering, Ontario. Dr. Carter’s website is craigcarter.ca, and you can follow him on Twitter at: @CraigACarter1.

 

Books

Contemplating God with the Great Tradition: Recovering Trinitarian Classical Theism (Baker Academic, 2021)

Following his well-received Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition, Craig Carter presents the biblical and theological foundations of trinitarian classical theism. Carter, a leading Christian theologian known for his provocative defenses of classical approaches to doctrine, critiques the recent trend toward modifying or rejecting classical theism in favor of modern “relational” understandings of God. The book includes a short history of trinitarian theology from its patristic origins to the modern period, and a concluding appendix provides a brief summary of classical trinitarian theology. Foreword by Carl R. Trueman.

 

Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition: Recovering the Genius of Premodern Exegesis (Baker Academic, 2018)

The rise of modernity, especially the European Enlightenment and its aftermath, has negatively impacted the way we understand the nature and interpretation of Christian Scripture. In this introduction to biblical interpretation, Craig Carter evaluates the problems of post-Enlightenment hermeneutics and offers an alternative approach: exegesis in harmony with the Great Tradition. Carter argues for the validity of patristic christological exegesis, showing that we must recover the Nicene theological tradition as the context for contemporary exegesis, and seeks to root both the nature and interpretation of Scripture firmly in trinitarian orthodoxy.

 

Rethinking Christ and Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective (Baker, 2007)

In 1951, theologian H. Richard Niebuhr published Christ and Culture, a hugely influential book that set the agenda for the church and cultural engagement for the next several decades. But Niebuhr’s model was devised in and for a predominantly Christian cultural setting. How do we best understand the church and its writers in a world that is less and less Christian? Craig Carter critiques Niebuhr’s still pervasive models and proposes a typology better suited to mission after Christendom.

 

 

The Faith Once Delivered: An Introduction to the basics of the Christian Faith: An Exposition of the Westney Catechism (Sola Scriptura Ministries International, 2018)

This practical book introduces the reader to the basics ofthe Christian faith through an explanation of the Westney Catechism. It grounds Christians in the essentials of the faith, examining the Great Commandment, the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Prayer and the Great Commission. This is a useful book for small group studies, Christian schools, Sunday School, family devotions or simply as an introduction to the foundational doctrines of Christianity.

 

Podcasts

Videos