Books and Research

 Books and Research

This page provides a brief overview of my research and publications in philosophical theology, metaphysics, and Lutheran thought.

Research Interests

My work focuses on questions at the intersection of philosophy and theology, particularly:

• the metaphysics of intelligibility

• the grounding of meaning and determinacy

• the relation of Logos and intelligibility

• Lutheran theology and philosophical method

• the logical structure of theological language

Books and Research

My work lies at the intersection of philosophical theology, metaphysics, Lutheran thought, and the logic of theological language. Particular areas of interest include theological realism, model theory, divine causality, participation, the metaphysics of intelligibility, and the philosophical interpretation of Luther.

Books

The Logic of Faith: Model Theory and the Meaning of Theology. Cascade Books, forthcoming 2026.

Disputationes Theologicae: Sixty-Six Exercises in Theological Reason. ILT Press, forthcoming 2026.

Truth After Kant: The Conditions of Theological Intelligibility. Manuscript in preparation.

Essays in Theological Realism, Vol. I: Theology, Language, and Truth. ILT Press, forthcoming 2027.

Essays in Theological Realism, Vols. II–III. ILT Press, forthcoming 2028–2029.

Model-Theoretic Theology: Formal Language, Structures, and Theological Meaning. Manuscript in preparation.

The Substance of Faith: Luther’s Doctrinal Theology for Today. Co-authored with Paul Hinlicky and Mickey Mattox. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008.

Freiheit und Liebe bei Martin Luther. Co-edited with Klaus Schwarzwäller. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1995.

Luther, Logic, and Language-Games: An Inquiry into the Semantics of Theological Language in the Writings of Martin Luther. PhD diss., University of Iowa, 1987.

Selected Articles and Book Chapters

“Theology as Freedom: The Nova Lingua Comes of Age.” Promissio 1.1 (January 2026): 85–104.

“Speaking Life: Luther’s Nova Lingua against the Grammar of Death.” Verba Vitae 2.4 (Winter 2025): 33–53.

“A Tale of Two Martins: Is Luther to Blame for Heidegger’s Destruction of Onto-theo-logy?” Dialog 61.3 (2022): 206–216.

“Virtue is not in the Head: Contributions from the Late Medieval and Reformation Traditions for Understanding Virtue Extrinsically.” In Habits in Mind: Ethics, Religion and the Science of Virtue, edited by Gregory Peterson, James van Slyke, Michael Spezio, and Kevin Reimers, 77–99. Leiden: Brill, 2017.

“The Heidelberg Disputation.” In The Annotated Luther, Vol. 1: The Roots of Reform, edited by Timothy Wengert, 66–120. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.

“Theological Realism.” Lutheran Forum 45.3 (2011): 42–48.

“Luther’s Philosophy of Language.” In The Devil’s Whore: Reason and Philosophy in the Lutheran Tradition, edited by Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth, 61–68. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011.

“Luther and Semantic Realism.” Lutheran Forum 43.2 (2009): 31–34.

“Three Questions on Minding God.” Zygon 39.3 (2004): 591–604.

“Luther on Language.” Lutheran Quarterly 16.2 (2002): 195–220.

“Luther and the Strange Language of Theology: How New is the Nova Lingua?” In Caritas et Reformatio: Essays on Church and Society in Honor of Carter Lindberg, edited by David M. Whitford, 221–244. St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press, 2002.

“Can the Western Monotheisms Avoid Substance Dualism?” Zygon 36.1 (2001): 153–178.

“The Promise and Peril of Supervenience for Theology.” In The Human Person in Science and Theology, edited by Niels Gregersen, Willem Drees, and Ulf Görman, 117–152. Edinburgh: T&T Clark / Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

“Luther and Ontology: A Response to Juntunen.” In Union with Christ: The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther, edited by Carl Braaten and Robert Jenson, 161–166. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

“The Ontology of Deification.” In Caritas Dei: Beiträge zum Verständnis Luthers und der gegenwärtigen Ökumene, 90–113. Helsinki: Luther-Agricola Gesellschaft, 1997.

“Deification as a Motif in Luther’s Dictata super Psalterium.” Sixteenth Century Journal 28.2 (1997): 401–420.

“Freedom, Love, and Righteousness in Luther’s Sermo de duplici iustitia.” In Freiheit als Liebe bei Martin Luther, 19–34. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1995.

“Luther, Metaphor, and Theological Language.” Modern Theology 6.2 (1990): 21–35.

Reference Works

“Ontology.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther. Oxford University Press, 2017.

“Theological Prolegomena.” In Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Traditions. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017.

“Semantics.” In Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, 2013.

Current Research

Current work is focused on the metaphysics of intelligibility, model-theoretic theology, Lutheran theological realism, divine causality, and the ongoing Disputationes Theologicae project.